Photo: ACI Sport
Ferrari Driver Academy member Lance Stroll was quickest overall over the first two practice sessions on Friday, in the second round of the 2014 Italian F4 Championship season at Imola.
The 15-year-old Canadian was pipped by Brandon Maisano in the closing stages of the morning session, but managed to beat his Prema teammate in the afternoon. The 21-year-old Frenchman, who is eligible only for the Trophy Class, managed to once again improve by a big margin in the session, but fell short of Stroll by 0.018s.
Championship leader Andrea Russo was the best non-Prema driver in third, ahead of fellow Italians Mattia Drudi and Matteo Cairoli. Euronova driver Leonardo Pulcini?ended up sixth, and was the last driver to clock in a time in the 1:48s.
Swiss driver Alain Valente was seventh quickest for Jenzer, with DAV’s Brazilian racer Gustavo Bandeira beating SMP-backed driver Ivan Matveev for eighth. Antonelli’s Joao Vieira completed the top ten.
In the afternoon session, Drudi was the top non-Prema driver in third, over six-tenths behind Maisano. Pulcini edged ahead of Russo for fourth, while Matveev was sixth quickest, ahead of Bandeira and Cairoli. The Malta Racing duo of Keith Camilleri and Vieira completed the top ten.
Italian driver Andrea Fontana returned to the series with the 11th-best time overall, after having missed the first round due to an illness, where he had been replaced by eventual race 2 winner Ukyo Sasahara. Meanwhile, Indian driver Mahaveer Raghunathan has joined Cram Motorsport (racing under the guise of F & M S.R.L) from the Imola round onwards and took 15th on his debut day.
Combined practice sessions
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Session 1 | Session 2 |
| 1 | Lance Stroll | Prema Powerteam | 1:47.697 | 1:46.979 |
| 2 | Brandon Maisano | Prema Powerteam | 1:47.662 | 1:46.997 |
| 3 | Mattia Drudi | F & M S.R.L | 1:48.711 | 1:47.627 |
| 4 | Leonardo Pulcini | Euronova Racing by Fortec | 1:48.851 | 1:47.799 |
| 5 | Andrea Russo | Diegi Motorsport | 1:48.140 | 1:47.823 |
| 6 | Ivan Matveev | SMP Racing by Euronova | 1:49.625 | 1:48.038 |
| 7 | Gustavo Bandeira | DAV Racing | 1:49.598 | 1:48.250 |
| 8 | Matteo Cairoli | Antonelli Motorsport | 1:48.751 | 1:48.299 |
| 9 | Keith Camilleri | Malta Formula Racing | 1:49.082 | 1:48.429 |
| 10 | Joao Vieira | Malta Formula Racing | 1:49.759 | 1:48.739 |
| 11 | Andrea Fontana | Euronova Racing by Fortec | 1:50.638 | 1:48.785 |
| 12 | Alain Valente | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:49.394 | 1:48.798 |
| 13 | Lucas Mauron | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:49.875 | 1:48.976 |
| 14 | Edi Haxhiu | Cram Motorsport | 2:21.136 | 1:48.984 |
| 15 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | F & M S.R.L | 1:51.255 | 1:49.480 |
| 16 | Zackary Dante | Malta Formula Racing | 1:51.224 | 1:49.481 |
| 17 | Ali Al-Khalifa | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:51.770 | 1:49.895 |
| 18 | Takashi Kasai | Prem Powerteam | 1:51.597 | 1:50.032 |
| 19 | Giovanni Altoe | F & M S.R.L | 1:53.673 | 1:50.147 |
| 20 | Nico Rindlisbacher | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:50.281 | 1:50.601 |
| 21 | Bar Baruch | Israel F4 | 1:50.435 | No time |
| 22 | Jonathan Giudice | Antonelli Motorsport | 1:54.694 | 1:51.837 |